Tragedy: Text

We are highschoolers. When someone says "text" we think about "texting" on our phones. However, text can mean many different medias of communication. Text can be an email, a picture, a song, or really anything that can convey an idea. Text can make other texts clearer for us. For example, we were shown a picture of a man kneeling down by flowers with his hands over his head. This picture could mean many things. It could be someone mourning someone yesterday or ten years ago. It could just be the aftermath of a casual guy walking around and getting hit in the head by a brick, and he just happened to fall down by some flowers. We then added another image, one of the peace sign with the Eiffel Tower. With this image, we realize that the man is mourning the losses of last Friday in the terrorist attack in Paris. Without this supplementave image, we are not sure what the first one means. With them both, the text conveys a strong idea that everyone will understand.

In our philisophical essays, we can apply these synthasis strategies to create a better image of what we are reading. If we add one text to another to make them clearer as a whole, they will be better understood to the readers. For example, in Oedipus the King, Kreon seems to be a nice person, he picks Oedipus up when he is down and is kind to him. However, in Antigone, Kreon is basically a completely different person. He is cruel, rude, and nothing like he was before. If you look at these two texts separately, you will only have one idea of Kreon. If we look at them together, we understand Kreon's past and will see him in a new way. Combining texts is a great way to have a better understanding of the whole, and a deeper fufillment of the idea that is being presented.